Every resident I met - without exception - told me how dangerous it was to be on the streets of Trinidad; As such, I spent my few days on the island hiding out in a suburb located deep in the mountains where the Caribbean Nazarene College campus lives.
Watching the local news one evening wasn't simply a sampling of bad tidings - it was outright traumatising; It’s not just the fact that people are being murdered on a daily basis, it's the violent manner in which their lives are being taken from them. (There is a missing persons segment in the broadcast each night.)
Kel "connections" Harry had arranged for me to stay at the Caribbean Nazarene College while in Trinidad; Because of a shortage of accommodation I ended up staying in the home of the Principal and Dean of Students, a husband & wife team, Scofielld & Margaret, who are both highly autonomous high achievers.
Not only did they made space – their space – available to me for the few days I was in Trinidad, They encouraged me greatly with the earthy love they extended to me in the form of food, shelter and a couple of great sermons. (I was particularly grateful for the provision of a bedroom where I wasn't 'hot and bitten' each night.)
The college is just down the road from where Brian Lara, a world record holder in cricket, grew up.
A new cricket field is being constructed there in his honour. (If batting averages are any indication it will end up being half as impressive as Bradman Oval in Bowral (my old home town).)
Strangely, everyone walks with a caged bird in Trinidad, and if you’re not walking with it, you hang it outside your house.
In the words of a blind man, 'very superstitious'.
Trinidad was the last of my Caribbean destinations and the first place I got a tamarind ball. (Which is a surprise (and a shame) as it was a tamarind ball, sampled in NZ, that hardened my resolve to travel through the region.)
I left Trinidad feeling better organised than I think I’ve been all trip long: I had completed the reports I needed to generate on my time in the Caribbean; I got on top of my correspondence; & I made a couple of master plans for the upcoming month of independent travel in Central America.
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